Chair



A.WANNER.1.

CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20, i917 Patented Feb. 3,1920.

ALBERT WANNER, JR., or NEW YORK, 1v. Y.

CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb, 3, 1920.

Application filed January 20, 1917. Serial No. 143,421.

To ZZ utom it may Concern.'

Be it known that I, ALBERT WANNER, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Chairs, of which the following is: a specification.

My present invention is an improvement in chairs having bracing mea-ns for the legs and seat of the kind disclosed b-y my Patent No. 819,478, the improvement involving the use of a cross-piece which overlies the arched side portions or members of the bracing leans and bears against the seat. This cross-piece makes it possible to apply a brace of the kind disclosed by my said patent to chairs wherein the flaring or projecting of the seat frames sidewise beyond the legs varies. so that instead of the manufacturer being required to keep in stock various sizes of the braces to suit different types or sizes of chair seats only one size is required. The cross-piece `also stiffens the chair both as to the seat and the brace, because it bridges them, and in the preferred construction hereinafter pointed out it presents certain other importa-nt advantages which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is an underneath plan of a chair embodying my invention, the legs appearing in section Von line 1-1, Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the chair shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a rear perspective view of the chair.

The chair shown by way of illustration in all the figures of the drawings is one of the bentwood type.

The seat has in this instance the wellknown ring-shaped frame b denotes the front legs; c members forming the back legs and the uprights of the back.; and d a curved cross-piece connecting the upper ends of members o and forming a part of the back structure. The legs Z) and members o are secured to the seat frame a in the usual manner.

The bracing structure includes the transverse bars e f and the arched curved struts g, parallel with each other and having equal lengths and curvatures. The bars and struts are preferably composed of wood. the latter being bent to shape. The ends of the struts may be secured to end portions of the bars, so as to form in plan substantially a.

rectangle, by doweling them into the bars, as shown. The overall dimension of the structure thus formed by the bars and struts is somewhat greater from one bar to the other, by preference, than the distance between the adjoining faces of the front and back legs. The bracing structure alsoinchicles. arranged upon the struts g and secured thereto by screws it or otherwise, a third bar t', parallel with the bars f.

Having preferably already made up the structure including the bars c, f and z' and struts g, it is enteredbetween the pair of front legs and the pair of back legs and sprung into place, that is, it is forced up into such position that when bar e' impinges against theunder' side of the seat frame the struts will be under tension, bars ve f then exerting a certain amount of spreadingapart pressure on the said pairs of legs (this being possible owing to the fact that said structure exceeds in front-to-rear dimension in the plane of the bars e f the distance between said` pairs of legs, as' explained above), being thereupon secured in place by screws y' driven through bar i into the seat frame and screws 75 driven through bars e f into the several legs. To give support to the back legs well d'own from the seat frame and also improve the appearance of the chair I preferably tilt the structure e, f, g i so that the bar e atthe front is. higher than the rear bar f.

Besides the bar or cross-piece z', by being combined with the brace e, f g as explained, making the structure adapted to various widths of chair seats without change in width of said brace, and also stiffening the chair by bridging its seat and the arched members of the brace, there is this further manufacturing advantage: The bracing structure, being of greater dimension from one cross-piece to the other than the distance between front legs and back legs, is adapted to be fitted to chairs of different standards as to spacing between their pairs of legs, such fitting involving merely shifting the bars in the direction to alter their relative elevations;v without the cross-piece the holes for securing the device to the seat could not be provided till the same was made up with assurance that they would come always at the points of contact between the arched members and seat, but with the cross-piece the holes can be bored (therein) in the first instance with every symmetry to achair and materially reinforces its legsand stiffens it, it reduces very materially the cost of manufacture, lnot fonly because short lengths of wood can be utilized but because only the short lengths of wood g (Q) require to be bent and these vcan be bent by the. simplest and least eX- pensive operations. It will be understood, however, that my invention is not limited to the brace e, f, g being formed of separate parts.

Having thus fully described my inven tion, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a chair, the combination of the seat and front legs and back legs attached to the seat,'and a bracing structure connectingV the several legs and seat and including a transverse portion rigidly connecting two adjoining legs' and arched means having a permanently rigid connection with said portion and connecting the saine with the other two legs, and a cross-piece bearing i against the seat, said arched means bearing upwardly against said cross-piece.

-2. As an article of manufacture, a bracing structure for chairs including a horizontal portion, arched portions each having at one end a permanently rigid connection with the lirst-named portion, and a crosspiece rigidly joining the high parts of the arched portions, said structure being adapted to be fitted between and connect the front and back pairs of legs of the chair and have its cross-piece bear against and be secured to the under side of the seat.

3. In a chair, the combination of the seat and front legs and back legs attached to the seat, and a bracing structure bearing against the seat and including a transverse member joining two of the legs, another transverse member joining the other two legs, arched means joining one member to the other, the dimension of said structure from one member to the other exceeding the distance between the pairs of legs joined thereby, and a cross-piece bearing against the4 seat and rigidly secured to the high parts of said arched means. i

In testimony whereof 'I aftiX my signature.

ALBERT WANNER, JR. 

